The present invention is directed to a method for identifying and analyzing the physiopathological parameters that characterize the condition of the lower urinary tract in patients whereby actual and theoretical urodynamic flow curves are compared and evaluated to provide a non-invasive and direct evaluation of the evolution of a particular disease or of the effectiveness of a treatment regimen.
Diseases of the lower urinary tract system can produce voiding anomalies which are measured during a urodynamic examination. Such examinations measure and record the evolution of hydrodynamic magnitudes, i.e., flow rate, pressure and volume of fluid, during a urination cycle. More often than not, the curves recorded by such examinations are too complicated for rapid and summary use and do not provide anything more than a general indication of conditions which must then be refined by invasive procedures, such as visual examination by urethroscope, or by use of X-ray, MRI or the like.
The present method provides a means to precisely and quantitatively identify the functional status of the lower urinary tract of a patient, whether male or female. It provides a non-invasive means to confirm or overrule a clinical diagnosis, or to track the evolution of a disease. The method uses a computer generated comparison between a urodynamic flow curve and a pressure curve recorded during micturition and theoretical models based on seven physiological parameters that together describe the lower urinary tract of an individual in good health. By applying the theoretical curves to the recorded curves, one can determine how far from ideal a particular individual is. In addition, by modifying the values from which the theoretical curves are calculated, one can bring the theoretical curves into coincidence thereby making it possible to identify those physiopathological parameters that are disturbed in a particular patient.
The values that are measured during a urodynamic procedure characterize the status of the lower urinary tract of which each elementary anomaly, e.g., urethral stenosis, is associated with a particular parameter, in this example, reduction of the urethral cross section. Each parameter is, in turn, associated with a physiological significance, the numeric value of which characterizes the magnitude of the phenomenon. These values vary according to the evolution of the particular disease or the effectiveness of the treatment therefor.